Combination suture cutting and removing instrument



p 1961 A. s. MILLER ET AL 2,998,649

COMBINATION SUTURE CUTTING AND REMOVING INSTRUMENT Filed June 2, 1959HIVHHIWII W 35 34 -|||l|\|||| IIIHHT' wk g Fig. 4

Alan 5. Mil/er Arthur L. Sherman INVENTORS BY 2mm WWW Em 2,998,649COMBINATION SUTURE CUTTING AND REMOVING INSTRUMENT Alan S. Miller, 39Auburn St., Brookline, Mass, and Arthur L. Sherman, 102 Garland Road,Newton, Mass. Filed June 2, 1%9, Ser. No. 817,671 Claims. (Cl. 30-131)This invention relates to instruments and more particularly to aninstrument to facilitate the cutting and removal of surgical sutures.

An object of the invention is to provide an instrument which materiallyfacilitates suture removal by a specially constructed arrangement oftweezers equipped with a cutter which operates on the punch and dieprinciple for shearing the suture.

Another object of the invention is to provide a practical instrument ofthe nature described, which may be produced at reasonable cost and whichserves its intended purpose far more satisfactorily than currentlyavailable and used instruments for severing and removing sutures.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an instrument in accordance with theinvention.

FIGURE 2 is a top view of the instrument in FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken approximatelyon the line 33 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is an elevational view of one part of one leg of the instrumentand taken approximately on the line 44 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a transverse sectional view of the suture severing andremoving instrument showing it in use.

In the accompanying drawings there is shown an instrument which has apair of legs 12 and 14 joined at one end 16 to form a pair of tweezers.The instrument is made preferably of metal and of the type which hassufiicient inherent resilience to provide a tweezer action. The restposition for legs 12 and 14 is shown in FIGURE 1, and when the legs arebrought together so that the leading or front ends 18 and 20 thereoftouch, the tweezer jaws are closed, but the inherent resilience andelasticity of the legs opposes this movement. When the closing force onthe legs 12 and 14 is removed, the legs return to the normal or restposition (FIGURE 1). Ends 18 and 20 are rounded (FIGURE 2) and bevelledat their edges. The confronting surfaces 22 and 24 of the jaws formed byends 18 and 20 may be serrated to enhance gripping action. However,serrations are an optional feature.

The cutter 26 of instrument 10 operates on a punch and die principle andincludes a blade 28 together with slot 30. Blade 28 is fixed to leg 14,while slot 30 is in leg 12, and the blade and slot are registered witheach other. Blade 28 is made of a flat plate 32 having a wedge shapedfromt portion with an upwardly inclined edge 34. The front end 36 ofedge 34 is coplanar with surface 24 and spaced rearwardly (FIGURE 3)from the tip of end 20. The rear edge 40 of surface 34 terminates in anupwardly opening pocket 42 formed by a notch in the plate 32. Theremainder of plate 32 projects upwardly to form a pilot 44 that entersslot 30 first when the legs 12 and 14 are moved together (FIGURE 5).

Slot 30 has square edges and is rectangular in plan form. When the legs12 and 14 are brought together the edges of plate 32 cooperate with theedges of slot 30 to shear anything which is in pocket 42, for instancesuture 50 (FIGURE 5).

In operation the instrument is held with lower leg 14 against the skinof the patient. The front part 20 of the lower leg is slid along theskin and inserted under the suture to be cut and removed. The sutureslides up surface 34 and drops into pocket 42 with pilot 40 functioningas a stop for the suture. Then, the legs of the instrument are squeezedtogether. First, the pilot 44 enters slot 30 and for this action, theupper part 45 of the pilot preferably has rounded edges to assure thatthe pilot will enter the slot. The upper part of the pilot absorbs allmisalignment forces and acts to assure that the forward portion of theblade 28 will enter aperture 30 in correct alignment and further assuresthat the blade 28 will remain in perfect alignment with slot 30indefinitely. Then as the legs are closed further suture 50 is sheared.Cut ends of the suture are removed by using the instrument as a standardpair of tweezers. The ends of the suture may be pinched with either thefront or any forward side edge of the jaws fromed by ends 18 and 20 ofthe legs 12 and 14.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An instrument for the cutting and removal of surgical sutures, saidinstrument comprising a pair of tweezer legs joined at one pair of ends,the other pair of ends being spaced apart from each other in a normalrest position, the second mentioned pair of ends having a cutterassociated therewith, said cutter comprising an elongated blade carriedby one of said legs, the other of said legs having a slot in alignmenttherewith, said blade being adapted to enter said slot along its entirelength and shear the suture in between said blade and slot, said bladebeing composed of a plat plate having an inclined surface for graduallyelevating the suture when one of said legs is inserted under the suture,said slot having substantially square side edges and said plate havingcorrespondingly squared edges to shear the suture when said plate enterssaid slot, said inclined surface having an upwardly opening pockettherein to form a rest within which the suture is received when saidlegs are moved in a direction to enter said blade into said slot.

2. An instrument for the cutting and removal of surgical sutures, saidinstrument comprising a pair of tweezer legs joined at one pair of ends,the other pair of ends being spaced apart from each other in a normalrest position, the second mentioned pair of ends having a cutterassociated therewith, said cutter comprising an elongated blade carriedby one of said legs, the other of said legs having a slot in alignmenttherewith, said blade being adapted to enter said slot along its entirelength and shear the suture in between said blade and slot, said bladebeing composed of a flat plate having an inclined surface for graduallyelevating the suture when one of said legs is inserted under the suture,said slot having substantially square side edges and said plate havingcorrespondingly squared edges to shear the suture when said plate enterssaid slot, said inclined surface having an upwardly opening pockettherein to form a rest within which the suture is received when saidlegs are moved in a direction to enter said blade into said slot, apilot portion which first enters said slot when said legs are broughtto- Patented Sept. 5, 1961 =3 gether, and said pilot portionconstituting a stop against which the suture is abutted upon enteringsaid pocket.

3. The instrument of claim 2 wherein said inclined surface has a frontedge portion spaced rearwardly from the tip of the leg to which saidblade is secured thereby leaving a portion of the last mentined leg tocooperate with an opposing portion of the other of said legs and form apair of tweezer jaws.

4. In an instrument for cutting and removal of surgical sutures, thecombination of a pair of tweezer legs having flat free end portionsforming a pair of jaws movable toward and away from each other, anelongated blade extending centrally andlongitudinally on one of saidjaws perpendicular thereto, the other of said jaws being provided with aslot extending centrally and longitudinally therein, said slotcorresponding in length and width to the length and thickness of saidblade respectively and receiving the entire length of the blade thereinwhen said jaws are brought together, said blade having a front endportion provided with a rearwardly inclined upper 20 edge and a rear endportion projecting substantially above the front end portion to form apilot for entry of the blade in said slot, an intermediate portion ofthe blade between the rear end of said inclined edge and said pilotbeing provided with a notch forming a seat for a suture to be out, saidinclined edge providing means for elevating and guiding a suture intosaid seat, and said pilot providing a stop to prevent rearwarddisplacement of a suture from said seat.

5. The device as defined in claim 4 wherein said blade and said slothave their front ends spaced rearwardly from the free ends of therespective jaws, whereby portions of the jaws forwardly of the frontends of the blade and slot constitute means for gripping a cut suture.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 85,427Bull Dec. 29, 1868 248,466 Howell Oct. 18, 1881 477,952 Moore June 28,1892 890,995 Moulton June 16, 1908 1,009,342 Rau Nov. 21, 1911 1,081,851Michael Dec. 16, 1913

